Extend the reach of your Internet connection
to serve clients, listeners and your own staff better

By Jay Mitchell

Until now, you've probably thought that having a web site was basically a publish-to-the-public proposition - you get your site up and (with some radio promotion, of course) your listeners surf on by. But that's only the beginning of how you can use your site to communicate.

Extra, Extra

Now that you have a web site (or soon will), the next step is to use it to communicate better with your own staff, using what's known as an "extranet" - a part of your site that is off-limits to the public.

Here are just a few of the things you can put on your station's extranet:

• Staff address/phone list
• Sales one-sheets for printing on demand (we do ours in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format so they always look the same and they can't be accidentally altered)
• Station policies
• Commonly-used forms
• Contact info for programming providers (listeners often request this)
• Contact info for ad agencies (so salespeople can access it as needed)
• Emergency procedures and numbers
• Periodic in-house newsletter letting people what's going on at the station
• Links to other web sites you encourage your staff to use - RAB RadioLink, NAB, show-prep services, and so on

To set up your extranet, just create a special directory off your URL that nobody knows about but you. If your site's address is www.yourgreatstation.com, your extranet might be www.yourgreatstation.com/staffonly/.

Now create your staff section just like a normal web site, with a home page, menu, links, and so on. (Make sure that your extranet's home page is named index.htm or whatever name your web site host specifies. If you're using Microsoft FrontPage and your host supports FrontPage extensions, use the "_private" directory to make your extranet invisible to the uninitiated.) You can also password-protect your extranet.

Now set up all your computer's web browsers so your extranet address is what comes up automatically when you boot up and when you click on the "Home" button. Voila! Now you are qualified to use the word "extranet" at the next convention.

Superior Client Service

Everybody fields calls from far-distant ad-agency planners who want information about your station. In the Internet Age we can use our web site to create a special clients-only section that communicates all your station information in exciting, glorious color.

You probably already have a page or pages on your site with basic information about your sales department. But you probably don't post your rate card or a lot of specific information that you don't want everybody to see. With a clients-only section (or even different sections for different clients or types of clients), you can make available the nitty-gritty information those planners need.

You set up this clients-only section the same way you set up your extranet-as a separate subdirectory of your web site (e.g., www.yourgreatstation.com/clients/ or www.yourgreatstation.com/sears/). 

Create your home page with links to station information, rate information, coverage maps, special promotions, and so on. Again, you can set up password protection if you like. (Soon you'll be able to use special software that will enable you to put full-blown multimedia PowerPoint presentations on your web site as well.)

Now e-mail your clients the special clients-only address; the address will show up as a clickable link in the e-mail. You'll score big points for coolness with this approach, and you'll stand out from the crowd.

We're all looking for ways to make this Internet thing work better. Use an extranet and a client section to run your business better and more profitably.

(This article originally appeared in Radio Ink)

Jay Mitchell Associates, Inc. • 4 Ventana • Aliso Viejo, CA 92656  • (949) 533-4912 • Fax (949) 666-5045 • Email
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